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Lesson 1: Initial Assessment
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1-2. INITIAL ASSESSMENT AND SAMPLE HISTORY
a. A thorough, properly sequenced rapid assessment is essential to identifying a patient’s needs and providing proper emergency care. To assess a patient, the combat medic must gather, evaluate, and record key information including the patient’s vital signs, injuries, and symptoms and the conditions leading to the illness or injury. The combat medic must learn the history of what happened before and since the accident or medical problem occurred and learn the patient's past medical history and overall health status. Assessment is a process which must be taught in steps in order to establish good assessment habits and a systematic
approach in order to avoid missing important injuries or illnesses. In the field, many aspects of the patient assessment may be done simultaneously.
b. Assessment is one of the most complex skill’s that must be learned to be an effective combat medic. During the assessment, the combat medic must use his eyes, ears, nose, hands, and a few basic medical instruments to obtain essential information about the patient.
